Sorry, Denny: JJ's still the story
MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Denny Hamlin was as patient behind the microphone following Sunday's victory at Martinsville Speedway as he was behind the wheel over the final laps holding off Jimmie Johnson for the win.
Asked whether the attention given to the Chase -- which Johnson still leads -- steals from the recognition one gets from winning a race, Hamlin replied, "Good point."
There was dead silence.
Then some laughter.
Hamlin knows the game. He knows the stories that follow what was a big feel-good moment for him winning again in his home state will be overshadowed by Johnson's extending his lead in the Chase to 118 points over Mark Martin.
"Without a doubt," Hamlin said. "I'm sure on the Web sites there'll be 12 stories. One will be on how much this guy lost to Jimmie, how much this guy lost to Jimmie. How much Jimmie gained -- stretched his point lead -- will be about three or four stories.
"Then mine will be that little column, 'Denny Hamlin wins at Martinsville for the second time.' Y'all do it. Write about something different."
He's got us there. But these past 10 races are about the Chase and winning a title more than individual accomplishments. Sorry, that's just the way it is.
We appreciate how impressive Hamlin's win was, how he avenged his loss to Johnson in the spring race and won for the third time this season. But the real winner was Johnson.
Again.
A second-place finish by the three-time defending Cup champion was as good as a win because the only drivers close to him finished worse. Martin, who came into the day 90 points back, lost 28. Gordon fell to 150 back despite a fifth-place run, and Tony Stewart trails by 192 despite finishing ninth.
The only good news for the competition was that Johnson didn't collect bonus points for leading the most laps or winning.
And while Hamlin might like a few more accolades for his accomplishment, he'd rather be in Johnson's shoes with four races remaining.
"Yeah, probably," the Chesterfield, Va., native said. "But that's old news. He's already won three."
It'll be a historic four straight, barring a catastrophe next weekend at Talladega or mechanical failures in any of the final events. Everyone understands that.
"It sucks to not have an opportunity to win the championship this year," said Hamlin, who moved up two spots to ninth with the victory. "Hopefully, we're setting ourselves up to be one of the favorites next year."
Hamlin had the momentum to challenge Johnson entering the Chase. He won the regular-season finale at Richmond for his sixth straight top-10. He followed that with a second in the playoff opener at New Hampshire.
He still was within striking distance three races in. Then the misfortune that has befallen seemingly everybody but Johnson found him. An accident left him 37th at California, and an engine failure left him 42nd at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Chase over.
"I told Mike [Ford] at the beginning of this race, 'Let's just get back in the top 5 in points,'" Hamlin said of his crew chief. "It's a shame for us to be 11th in points, as competitive as we've been."
There is an upside to it. Hamlin can be as aggressive as he wants and not worry about losing ground. That became evident as he gave Johnson a few hard bumps the first time he passed him for the lead even though he didn't have to because he had a faster car.
"It's kind of a fun power position to be racing around guys that are racing for a championship and you have nothing to lose and all you're doing is going for a race win," Hamlin said. "That part of it is kind of fun because you can push a little harder and maybe take a few more risks."
Hamlin didn't have to take many risks on this day, although there was a hairy moment with about 40 laps to go. That's when Hamlin hit the curb in Turn 2 and lost momentum, allowing Johnson to move inside and attempt the move that led him to the spring victory.
"I thought, 'Man, I've seen this movie before,'" Johnson said. "I got inside of him and he came to block the position like he did in the spring, and I thought, 'Man, I didn't try to hit him last time here,' and he was coming again."
But Johnson never got far enough inside to complete the move, actually hitting the curb himself to kill his momentum.
"That was my one chance," Johnson said.
That also was about the only drama for the lead down the stretch despite a green-white-checkered finish. Why? Because the excitement double-file restarts were supposed to create never happened.
Because Johnson was on the outside, he had to spend more energy worrying about getting inside the third-place car starting behind the leader. By the time he was behind the leader, he was too far behind to get a good nudge.
"If I had a chance to pass him and get to his bumper and work him over, I would have," Johnson said. "But I wasn't going to come in with the second-place car and take a cheap shot and pass him that way."
As boring as it might sound, Johnson knew the best thing for him was to settle for second and not make a mistake that would affect the big picture.
Not that there wasn't some drama. Gordon and Montoya got into a late sheet-metal exchange that had Gordon wondering what he did to make the former Formula One star so mad. Montoya felt that Gordon was leaning too hard on him.
At times it appeared they were going to wreck each other. It never got that rough between Hamlin and Johnson, although Johnson's closest competitors probably wish it had.
They know the only way they'll get back in the picture is for something bad to happen to the No. 48, and that such an incident at a track where Johnson had won five of the last six races would have been huge.
"I was in no way going to endanger him, knocking him out of the way or anything like that," Hamlin said. "I was just tapping him, making him think a little bit, trying to make him make a mistake or just get out of the way."
Johnson seldom makes mistakes, which is why he is in such a commanding position, and why the focus is on him more than the winner.
Wins are nice, but the goal is to win a championship.
David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com.
